Little blue penguins live along the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand, making them the only penguin species that breeds in those two countries. Standing just 30 centimeters tall, they are the smallest penguins in the world, and they stick to temperate southern waters rather than the icy Antarctic habitats most people associate with penguins.
Range Across Australia and New Zealand
In Australia, little blue penguins are found along the southern coastline from Western Australia through South Australia, Victoria, and up into New South Wales. The colony on Penguin Island off Western Australia sits near the northwestern edge of their range, where temperatures push close to the limits of what these birds can tolerate. Victoria’s Phillip Island hosts one of the most well-known colonies, currently home to about 32,000 penguins. In New South Wales, colonies dot offshore islands like Montague Island and Bowen Island, though numbers there have declined significantly over recent decades.
In New Zealand, little blue penguins (known locally as kororā) nest along coastlines on both the North and South Islands, as well as on smaller offshore islands. A closely related form called the white-flippered penguin breeds specifically on Motunau Island and the Banks Peninsula on the eastern coast of the South Island, staying close to its nesting colonies year-round. Wellington holds the distinction of being the only capital city in the world where these penguins live, with kororā nesting all along the city’s coastline from rocky beaches and coastal scrub to the urban waterfront.
Where They Nest on Land
Little blue penguins spend their days at sea hunting small fish and return to shore at night. Their nesting sites are surprisingly varied. The typical choice is a burrow dug into bare sand or soil, often beneath coastal vegetation that keeps the burrow shaded and cool. When the ground is too soft or sandy to hold a stable burrow, they nest in natural rock crevices and small caves instead.
In managed colonies, conservation groups install wooden nest boxes to give penguins additional shelter. The colony at Ōamaru in New Zealand uses hundreds of these boxes, which staff monitor weekly to track every microchipped bird, its partner, and breeding success. The peak number of penguins arriving on shore each night at Ōamaru has grown from 42 to over 300.
In urban areas like Wellington, kororā have adapted in creative ways. They nest among rocks, under thick vegetation, inside purpose-built nest boxes, and occasionally under houses and buildings. They come ashore mostly after dark, so many city residents live near penguin nests without realizing it. Dogs are the biggest threat to urban-nesting penguins on land.
How Ocean Conditions Shape Their Habitat
Little blue penguins are tied to productive coastal waters where they can find small schooling fish like pilchards, anchovies, and sandy sprat. They typically forage within a manageable distance of their nesting colony, so the quality of nearby ocean habitat matters enormously.
Marine heatwaves are already reshaping where and how successfully these penguins can live. Research from the University of Western Australia found that heatwaves along the west coast changed the penguins’ diet almost immediately, replacing their usual prey with tropical fish species that had moved into warmer waters. The same heatwaves reduced breeding participation, lowered breeding success, increased starvation, and shrank population size. The Penguin Island colony in Western Australia already sits near the maximum habitable temperature, and researchers expect critical thresholds to be crossed more frequently as ocean warming continues.
On land, temperature inside nesting sites matters too. Studies at range-edge colonies found that artificial nest boxes tend to run hotter and drier than natural burrows sheltered under vegetation, which could become a serious problem as air temperatures rise.
Population Trends by Region
The picture varies dramatically depending on location. Phillip Island in Victoria is a conservation success story. In the mid-1980s, the colony had dropped to around 12,000 penguins and was projected to disappear by the late 1990s. Habitat destruction from housing development, traffic, foxes, and industrial fishing were driving the decline. The Victorian Government responded by buying back residential land in the middle of the colony, closing roads, eliminating introduced foxes, and removing an entire housing estate. The colony has since rebounded to roughly 32,000 birds.
Other regions are not faring as well. A 2024 survey by the New South Wales government found penguin numbers trending downward across the state, with similar declines observed in other parts of southern and western Australia. Colonies on Montague Island and Bowen Island have dropped dramatically compared to counts from the 1990s, and evidence suggests the decline on Montague Island has been underway for decades. A follow-up count in 2025 aims to confirm whether these are long-term trends or temporary dips.
Globally, little blue penguins are classified as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning they are not considered at risk of extinction overall. But that broad classification masks real trouble at individual colonies, particularly those at the warm edges of the species’ range.
Where to See Them
Two of the most accessible colonies are set up specifically for public viewing. Phillip Island’s Penguin Parade, about 140 kilometers southeast of Melbourne, draws visitors who watch penguins waddle ashore at sunset. Decades of conservation work there show how tourism and penguin protection can coexist when managed carefully.
In New Zealand, the Ōamaru Blue Penguin Colony on the South Island’s east coast offers a similar experience on a smaller, more intimate scale. Staff track every bird in the colony through microchipping, giving visitors unusually detailed insight into individual penguins and their families. In Wellington, kororā can sometimes be spotted along the waterfront, though sightings require patience and a quiet approach after dark.